A 19-year-old Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) claimed his first professional victory at the GP de Denain after sprinting to the line from a select group of eight riders at the end of the 197km race.
The Briton was battling at the front of the race with Lotto pairing Alec Segaert and Brent Van Moer, Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), among several others, on the run to the finish of his eighth pro race day.
Attacks and counters flew at the front, but the eight men would come to the line together to contest the sprint finish. Following one last attempt by Lotto’s non-sprinters to go clear, it was Tomáš Kopecky (Unibet Tietema Rockets) who launched his sprint at the front first.
The Czech rider went too early, however, and he was swamped by Brennan, who earlier this month won two races with Visma’s development team, and Gianni Vermeersch.
The pair hit the front together, but Brennan was always slightly ahead and had the fastest finishing kick to boot. The British rider kicked on and had time to celebrate before the line, too.
Gianni Vermeersch came through for second place ahead of De Bondt, while Florian Vermeersch and Van Moer rounded out the top five.
“Really nice to win here. It’s something we really aimed for as a team and I’m really thankful for the work they did today,” Brennan said after his win.
“It was a big group, and I knew that quite a lot of the boys wanted to attack. It was quite hard to manage it but coming to the finish I kind of knew that I had a faster sprint than probably most of the guys there. That gave me confidence coming into the final.
“It was tough positioning [on the cobbles], but it was kind of alright once you were there. You got into a rhythm, you come out the other side and then look back and it’s all in one line. I think we did really well as a team to keep me up there in good position and I really thank them for that today.
“It’s perfect. You couldn’t wish for a better [start to] the season, to be honest. I’m really happy.”
The winning move had established itself at the front 42km from the finish line when Segaert and Gianni Vermeersch led the attacking in the peloton on the four-star cobbled sector at Quérénaing à Verchain Maugré-Pavé Jan Luc Derche.
It was the eighth sector of the day, with five more to follow before the finish. Segaert and Vermeersch took their teammates Van Moer and Tibor Del Grosso along for the ride, while Brennan, De Bondt, Kopecky, Florian Vermeersch, Axel Huens (Unibet Tietema Rockets), and Dillon Corkery (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93) also made the group.
Behind them, a chasing group including Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) and several others formed.
The men out front didn’t let up the pace, however, holding a slim advantage over the chase and extending it to a still-fragile 25 seconds at the 10km mark. By that point, Del Grosso and Huens had fallen out of contention for victory, dropping back thanks to punctures.
But there was still enough firepower in front to stay away and contest the final among themselves, despite several attacks which disrupted any smooth pacemaking.
The moves ultimately came and went, and in the end the race pivoted on the closing sprint, taken out by Brennan, who has already marked himself out as one to watch for the future at Visma-Lease a Bike.
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the eight-rider breakaway on one of final 13 sectors of cobbles (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. She has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel, and her favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
